“Standards and testing on materials should be done before these products hit the market,” said Kyle. “The government should not be relying on the people working for the recyclers and waste management to act as their canary in the mine shaft.”

May 5, 2015, Triple Pundit: “A lot of the new consumer electronics like tablets and smartphones are made in such a way that they are not economically recyclable. It costs more to take them apart to remove the battery than you can earn in commodities from recycling.”

The Guardian Sustainable Business: “A new government-issued executive order has weakened a federal ratings system aimed at greening America’s electronics industry, environmentalists say. Is the US moving backward on green purchasing?”

A new presidential Executive Order on US federal sustainability efforts could mean that a tool that allows purchasers to identify electronics products that meet standards on hazardous substances is abandoned by the federal government, two NGOs claim.

As the Armed Services Committee report found, “much of the material used to make counterfeit electronic parts is electronic waste, or e-waste, shipped from the United States and the rest of the world to China.”

Guardian Sustainable Business: “When it comes to e-waste recycling, most electronics retailers aren’t just struggling; they’re downright failing. At least according to the Electronics TakeBack Coalition, which took the industry to task in a recent report.”

The news comes just after one Colorado firm was ordered to pay over $4 million in fines, with two executives sent to prison, for a scheme to illegally dispose of and export electronic waste to China and other foreign countries.